Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Of torsos and men...

Another day, another page in the ol' sketchbook. This one actually had me figure out something pretty interesting really. Something I honestly never gave much thought to.Rib cages tilt forward when someone leans! To be perfectly truthful, this little nougat of info HAS been in my head before, but it's one of those things when you just throw a pose out onto the paper, if your head isn't in the game, it doesn't surface.

This actually got me to thinking about a couple of little things. First, I I thought about the fact that I always start my drawings with the head. Then I kinda came to the realization that a LOT of artists do this. I know of a lot of pals who start with a gesture of the head, then find the spine and line of action through that, which lead me onto another train of though...

Burne Hogarth.

Hogarth's Dynamic Anatomy or Dynamic Figure Drawing (if you ever read these books) don't actually prescribe to this following. Instead Hogarth stresses the rib cage as the first object to draw, as everything originates from there: The orientation of the head does not dictate the pose, but the orientation of the rib cage might.

While I think this is a nifty idea, I don't know how well it could actually work. The problem lies in the flow of the pose. It's far easier for me to find the LoA (Line of Action) from the head than it is from the rib cage. If the rib cage dictates the pose, don't I already have this set in stone then?

Anyway, I've just provided a look into the mad ramblings of a lone artist, so feel free to leave any thought pertaining (or not) on the comment board.